The present invention relates to a bolt weatherstrip for a vehicle. More particularly, the present invention relate to a belt weatherstrip or the like which seals the portion of a vehicle between the sliding glass window and the show surface of a vehicle door, for instance.
Belt weatherstrips of the past have generally been utilized to weather-strip sheet metal flange areas of a vehicle. For instance, a vehicle door has a spot welded end flange connecting the outer show surface portion with the inner frame portion of the door. Such a flange is commonly provided for forming the window aperture. Such weatherstrips commonly include a sealing lip for sealing and stripping water off the glass window and an overhanging elastomeric strip portion which rests on the belt shelf of the outer surface of the car door in order to prevent water from entering the flange area.
It is desired in such construction s to provide a transitional surface of the weatherstrip which may include each a colored elastomer strip or chrome strip or the like which aesthetically matches the finishing contours of the vehicle surface, in order to produce a matched fit. In many vehicle designs a belt shelf having a transition edge is formed near the door flange which becomes a transition point from the weatherstrip show surface to the vehicle door show surface. Such edges may vary in width along the length of the door and thus have varying curvatures to which it is desirable to match a weatherstrip.
It is desired that such a belt weatherstrip will blend in with the design of the vehicle body and form a generally continuous surface at the transition edge of the vehicle door. This was accomplished in some past constructions by manufacturing a two-piece belt weather strip in accordance with the particular tolerances of the particular application. For instance, in prior constructions a belt weatherstrip core and show surface were manufactured to a particular specification of the transition edge to be matched. After the manufacture of this portion a separately manufactured glass sealing lip member was attached by staples or the like to the first portion and the belt weatherstrip was then assembled onto the vehicle end flange. One possible solution is also shown in prior application Ser. No. 466,998, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,949,507 filed Jan. 18, 1990, entitled "One-Piece Expandable Weatherstrip" which is commonly assigned herewith and which allows extra material for variation of the width of the weatherstrip.
The prior two-piece belt weatherstrips were relatively expensive to manufacture since the tooling and manufacturing equipment used must be changed for each particular vehicle model design. Additionally, such prior two-piece belt weatherstrip constructions required a two-step process for attaching the sealing lip portion to the belt weatherstrip core portion, thus, adding to the cost of labor involved in assembling the belt weatherstrip.
Therefore, it has been a goal in the art to provide a one-piece belt weatherstrip which would be suitable in such applications, thereby saving the costs of separate operations during manufacture thereof. It has also been a goal in the art to provide a belt weatherstrip which can be stretch formed to vary in its width such that it is adaptable to varying width belt shelfs. Such a construction would provide for reduced costs in tooling and manufacture of the part resulting in more efficient utilization of resources and cost savings in both manufacture and sales of the part.